Shigeru Miyamoto: PS Vita needs more games
(CBS News) Legendary video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto talks about Sony's PS Vita, his storied career in the gaming industry and why he still plays video games.
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The man who brought us "Super Mario Bros.," "Donkey Kong"and "The Legend of Zelda" was in Paris to promote a Nintendo 3DS-visitors guide for the Louvre Museum.
Miyamoto spoke with many journalists at the event about this career and Nintendo games, but it was what he said about Sony's new handheld console, the PS Vita, that raised a few eyebrows.
"It's obviously a very hi-spec machine, and you can do lots of things with it," Miyamoto told Edge magazine. "But I don't really see the combination of software and hardware that really makes a very strong product."
The gaming legend may have been taking notice of the few games that have come out for the PS Vita since launch. To be fair to Sony, the PS Vita came with more launch titles than any other handheld video game console.
Miyamoto speaks from experience. The launch of the Nintendo 3DS was, at the very least, rocky. Last month, Nintendo announced its first ever annual loss - posting a net loss of 43.2 billion yen ($533 million). Miyamoto lamented the lack of strong launch titles, like "Super Mario 3D Land" and "Mario Kart 7" - both titles came out after the console launched last year.
This isn't the end of the road for the 60-year-old game designer. Miyamoto remains optimistic about the future of Nintendo and handheld games, as a whole.
"Games have grown and developed from this limited in-the-box experience to something that's everywhere now," Miyamoto told the Guardian in an in-depth interview. "Interactive content is all around us, networked, ready. This is something I've been hoping for throughout my career."
As for why he still plays video games, Miyamoto told the Guardian because he still makes games. From the looks of it, he has no intentions of hitting the pause button soon.
One of the many reason's Miyamoto has become a legend in the industry is because of his ability to think outside of the box. The video game icon started his career at Nintendo designing the company's first coin-operated arcade game, "Sheriff."
Miyamoto's first big success came with "Donkey Kong" in 1981, a game that involved a gorilla and carpenter fighting over a girl. That carpenter, originally named Jumpman, went on to inspire "Super Mario Bros." His portfolio also includes "The Legend of Zelda," "Star Fox" and "Wii Fit."
